Washing-machine



C. A. LINTON.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Dc.2o. 1919. REIIEwED mac. I3. 1920.

1,383,471 Patented July 5, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

C. A. LINTON.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.2o. 1919. RENEwED Dac. 13,1920. 1,388,471.

Patented July 5, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 /II/I/E/vro/I I Lf/IUUR/I/EY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER ALFRED LINTON, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

WASHING-MACHIN E.

Application led December 20, 1919, Serial No. 346,334. Renewed December 13, 1920. Serial No. 430,549.

T0 all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, CHESTER a citizen of the United States, and resident of Kansas City, county of Jackson, State of issouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Washing-Machines, of which the following is a complete specification.

The present invention relates to laundry appliances and aims to provide a washing machine construction having a novel form of movable receptacle having improved means for imparting an effective wash motion thereto.

he invention further comprises a novel driving mechanism constructed and arranged to impart a longitudinally swinging movement to the washing receptacle, which movement is caused to take place in a path having for its general outline the form of the ligure 8.

It is also sought to provide acombined washing machine and wringer construction in which the washin machine is of the character above ind1cated and provided with drive connections for operating the wringer, these connections being arranged to drive the wringer apparatus in opposite directions or to throw out the wringer altogether.

With these general objects in view the invention will now be described by reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating one form of construction I have devised for carrying out the proposed im rovements after which the novel features t erein will be particularly set forth and claimed.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is an end view partly in section A. LINToN,

showing a laundry apparatus constructed in accor ance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same partly in section;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1 but on a smaller scale;

Fig. 4 is vertical sectional view taken on the line A4 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the washing receptacle, with the crank connections in section; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5

Referring now to the said drawings in detail these illustrate the improved construction as comprising a receptacle 7 for Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1921.

receiving the articles to be treated by the washing operation, this receptacle being provided with the usual closure member 8. The interior face of the bottom of the receptacle 7- is formed with a plurality of transversely extending corrugations 9 the space between each pair of adjoining corrugations being provided with a drain passage 10 leading to a longitudinally extending drain outlet passage 11 which leads to one of the ends of the receptacle where it is provided with a stopper element 12.

he receptacle 7 is constructed of an suitable light material, preferably of sheet metal and has its opposite side faces reinforced by means of a skeleton plate structure 14, as is best illustrated in Fig. 5. The receptacle is adapted for longitudinally swinging movement by being supported upon a plurality of crank arms 15, of which a pair are provided at each of the opposite sides of the receptacle and near the opposite ends thereof. At one of the ends of the receptacle the crank arms 15 are provided with fixed bearing mountings 16 in the skeleton structure 14, while at the opposite endof the receptacle the crank arms are provided with sliding bearing niountings 17 which are carried in slideways 18 in the corresponding portions of said skeleton reinforced structure 14, as is more fully illustrated in Fig. 6. The object of this combined fixed and sliding bearing mountings for the crank arms 15 is to adapt said crank arms for continuous rotary movement in opposite directions by the driving means now to be described.

Each of the crank arms 15 is also journaled in a fixed bearing 19 formed in one face of a housing 20 within which each crank arm 15 is fitted with a bevel gear 21. The several housings 20 are formed as a .part of the fixed frame work 22 of the apparatus. There are thus two pairs of gears 21, one pair at each side of the receptacle 7 and each pair of gears 21 is adapted to be rotated in opposite directions lby means of bevel pinions 24, each pair of said pinions 24 being carried by the opposite ends of a shaft 25 mounted in bearings provided in the adjacent faces of the housings 20 at each side of the machine.

In addition to its bevel pinion 24, one of the bevel gears 21 is also in mesh with a bevel pinion 26 which is secured to a vertical shaft 27 provided with a pair of bearing collars by the described arran 28, for which bearings are provided in a housing structure 29 forming a downward continuation of the corresponding housing 2O of the last mentioned gear 21. The lower end of the shaft 27 is fitted with a worm gear 30 adapted to mesh with a worm 31 secured to a shaft 32 which is driven from a suitable motor 33 conveniently mounted upon a shelf 34 beneath the receptacle 7. If desired the motor shaft 32 may" be made in sections provided with a suitable governor device 35 adapted to permit the motor to attain a certain speed before picking up the load represented by the drive to the washing machine parts.

A wringer mechanism may also be mounted for operation by means of a drive connected up with the before-mentioned shaft 27 For this purpose the housing 2O which incloses the pinion 26 is also provided with upward extension 36 upper end of the shaft 27 and also for providing a support for the wringer device, indicated generally by the reference numera 39. One of the wringer shafts 40 is provided with a bevel gear- 42 the opposite sides of which are in mesh with a pair of bevel gears 43 mounted upon a vertlcal shaft 44, the lower end of which shaft 44 is fitted within a clutch sleeve 45 secured to the upper end of the shaft 27. The wringer frame is provided with a depending sleeve extension 46 which is adapted to be tted within the split upper end of the continuation 36 of the before-mentioned housing 20, the said extension 46 being clamped by means of a split collar 47 and a clamp screw 48, see particularly Figs. 1 and 2. Intermediate the bevel gears 43 is located a clutch element 49 mounted slidingly upon shaft 44 and shiftable in either direction for engagement with gears 43 by means of a lever 50, whereby the wringer rolls may be rotated in opposite directions and their direction of rotation also reversed.

From the foregoing-it will appear that I have provided a comparatively simple and efficient arrangement and construction for embodying the proposed features of improvement. The described mountings and the illustrated drive connections impart a longitudinally swinging motion to the receptacle 7, the general outline of the path of which movement is that of the figure 8, the receptacle 7 having a slight tilting motion simultaneously with its longitudinal swinging motion as is illustrated by the broken lines in Fig. 4, the arrows in said gure indicatin the direction of the crank arms motion.

ement of the crank arms, therelatively di erenttilted positions of the receptacle being permitted by the for accommodating the his movement is carried outv sliding connections provided for the inner ends of the crank arms at one of the ends of the receptacle. An effective washing action is thus produced, the general arcuate outline of the series of corrugations 9 in the bottom of the receptacle being best adapted for effectively coperating with the swinging movement of the receptacle just described. Further, the series of said corrugations 9 are all properly and effectively drained by means of the series of passages 10 all communicating with ther drain passage 11 as best shown in Fig. 4. It is apparent also that the wringer frame may be swung into any desired position for operation or be turned entirely out of operative position by virtue of its pivotal mounting, the drive connections for which wringer mechanism permit the same to be operated in either direction or disconnected entirely when the wringer is not in use. In this connection it is also to be noted that the gear 26 is pivoted with a clutch element 51 mounted on the shaft 27 l and a shift lever 52 whereby the drive to the receptacle 7 may be disconnected at will.

While I have herein illustrated and described what I now regard as a preferred form of construction for embodying the proposed improvement I desire to reserve the right to make such changes as may fairly fall within the scope ofthe following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A washing machine comprising a receptacle and Vmeans for imparting thereto. a longitudinal swinging movement in a path genera gure 8 outline, said means including crank elements supporting said receptacle, and means for mechanicallyl rotating said crank elements at the opposite ends of the receptacle in opposite directions.

2. A-washing machine comprising a receptacle, a. pair of mechanically rotated crank elements supporting each of the opposite ends of said receptacle, and means for rotating said pairs of elements in opposite directions, one pair of sai-d elements being provided with a sliding connection with said receptacle.

3. A washing ceptacle, a pair of mechanically rotated crank elements supporting each of the opposite ends of said receptacle, a bevel gear carrying each of such crank elements, a shaft extending longitudinally at eachside of the receptacle and provided with bevel gears meshing with Said first gears and operating to rotate the crank elements at each side of the receptacle in opposite directions, and actuating means for rotating one of said first mentioned gears.

In witness whereof I hereby afiix my signature.

CHESTER ALFRED LINTON.

machine comprising a re- 

